With less than a year to go before Albany has to decide whether to extend control of the city schools to future mayors, Senate Democrats announced Tuesday a series of hearings for the public to sound off.
Mayor Bloomberg became the first mayor to run the schools without school board oversight in 2002, but he's been criticized for making sweeping changes to the schools without consulting parents.
"It is time to review the changes made five years ago to the N.Y.C. school board," Senate Democratic leader Malcolm Smith of Queens said in a statement.
The Democrats named eight senators from the city and one from Mamaroneck, Westchester County, to preside over six public hearings around the city - two in Manhattan and one in each of the other boroughs - and recommend how to proceed. "The conclusions of the [task force] could result in new legislation next year," Smith said.
The hearings are among numerous public debates that are likely to be held before the controversial law ends on June 30, 2009. A City Council hearing last spring quickly became a referendum on Bloomberg as critics took turns lambasting his school policies.
"We are approaching these hearings with an open mind without prejudging the current system," said task force member state Sen. Martin Dilan (D-Brooklyn).
